China has formally authorized game consoles made in a new Shanghai free-trade zone to be sold in the country, potentially opening its lucrative market up to the likes of Sony's PlayStation and Microsoft's Xbox.
The move effectively lifts a more than decade-long ban on domestic console sales – although imports remain officially blocked, while illicit machines are already widely available.
Foreign firms will be allowed to make machines in the free-trade zone and sell the equipment into the domestic market after passing inspection by cultural authorities, China's State Council, said in a statement dated December 21 but publicly released this week.
The State Council has “temporarily'' suspended a regulation introduced in June 2000 on the grounds that, the government said at the time, games had an adverse effect on the mental health of young people.--AFP